Lego Lord of the Rings, first part

I like to play silly games at times where you do not have to think and you just play them through. No tough choices or situations. You just either point and click through the game or jump, kill and move forward. After celebrating Midnight summer it was good to time to begin one of these kind of games what are playable even for kids. So I decided to play Lego Lord of the Rings. 

You hav to gather all kind of goodies from the areas.

The game won't look scary.

Shire is pretty and lovely looking.

If you have played any from the licensed games by lego you will know how they work. You play as lego-look-a-like-characters and jump, kill and go forward. And of course you smash many things and gather lego coins and other specialities like chests etc. No blood or anything else what would game look more dangerous. And unfortunately the story follows the movies, at least so far  what I have been playing. So I was missing good old Tom Bombadil when Old Forest was skipped. What a disappointment. 

Wandering around the Rivendell.

The Guardian of the entrance to Moria isn't a nice guy.

You better not to fall in Moria.

Of course the plot of the game is more straightforward then in the books or movies. But it works since at least I do know the basic story well enough not needing all the information. But I am not sure from those who haven't seen the movies nor read the books. Would they do like the story? That I can't answer. And I know some of the fans would be annoyed when some of the scenes are made to be funny ones or childish.  But yes, better remind again that this game is made for kids.

Meeting Galadriel.

Leaving Lothlórien.

There are also extra quests in the areas.

When I finished first part from I wasnät superexcited. The game is still nice for the days when you're tired to think after work but at the same time I am slightly annoyed that I can't recieve 100% played game unless I want to play same scenes through multiple times. There is always hidden places and areas what you can't look through immediately since on  the first gaming time you can't pick all the playable characters what you will need to finish the area. Plus there is also extra quests what you can finish in the areas. Those I haven't tried so far but I will make later second posting about this game where I also introduce those quests since those were new to me (I used to play Lego Star Wars and there wasn't any quests). 

Dragon Age II first testings

When I finished Dragon Age Origins I had strong feeling that I wanted to begin new adventures by playing second part from that saga. So I bought the game and downloaded wanting to play through more adventures. First impression from Dragon  Age II was that I need to learn a bit different style when fighting.

The story begins with your own family.

My first character was mage.

When it was about to time to choose the character I was a bit disappointed. I was only able to play human. Elf or dwarf wasn't option this time at all. But at least I was warned before by my friends about that. Good thing was that you were still able to pick different role so everyone were not meant to be fighters. When the actual story began I was lightly disappointed. yes I had to drag a family with me and any of them didn't seem to like me. At least there were mourning and adoring everyone else except thet main character so didn't feel very nice trying to help them. Maybe I find out reasons for this kind of behaviour when I play game further.

I like the maps in game.

You can gather companions but gaining their friendship isn't that easy.

Now I have played game few hours and even it is rather straightforward the atmosphere has been good so far. Discussions have been interesting to listen and companions what you will be finding to your side are more than pretty face. Thei past haunts them and you need to deal with them carefully. It is also clear that when you make choices you can't please everyone in the group so some are more rivalrous for you than others unless you pick your party very carefully each time.

So far game looks very pretty also.

On the next posting baout Dragon Age II I will be writing more about the skills and abilities. And more about the areas what you can find in game.

Blockparty!

I have found servers who runs minigames in Minecraft. There are severals of those but so far I have played http://hivemc.com/ which has been rather addicting and fun. There are several games what lasts from couple minutes to almost ten depending how players are pleying them. I haven't tested all of them so far but now I will tell one of them; Blockparty!

Room for Blocparty games.

These all are servers. Just hit them if they are available.

Sky simply looks awesome.

Finding a server might be tricky at times. Even there are many games running at the same time you can only hop in when game isn't ongoing allready. And they will take only 20 players to one game, so at times you need to stand in front of servers and click them fastly when they're taking new players.

Only one colour from the blocks stays while music ends.

If you do not stand on the right colour, you will be eliminated.

What you do in game? You run around and when music stops you need to stand on right colour block. If you aren't, you fall and game is over. Then music continues again and game says new colour what you need to reach before music stops again. Sounds easy.. but as you can see.. at times colours are so dark ones that it makes it hard to know if you're on the right spot. At least to me.

I was 6th dancer who was eliminated.

When you die, you can watch rest of the game if you want to.

I can recomment this game for those, who do not have much time to play. Like even if you have only 15 minutes, you can run couple rounds and try to win the game. I have tried it several times and won only once so not that easy. At times you're simply too far from the right block or at times dak colours of the blocks looks far too similar. So you will need a bit of lucky and brightness to win this minigame! Or if you know better advices  please share them with me.

Minecraft and Barn!

Do you know what is good thing in Minecraft? You can actually play it whenever you have time, even 15 minutes. If I play first person shooters or rolegames, 15 minutes is too short time to finish but in Minecraft  I can hop in mine a little or fish and then log off. Probably that is one of the reasons I like to play it. At times I so busy to do other things that I can't spend hours in the evening for playing something.

Place for farm from distance.

I started to make small barn or shelter

How it will look like from behind

Roofs are always so difficult to me since I make them to look silly.

Now I have gotten more familiar with Minecraft. System was good but  been finding new things for me, like bunnies or new stones. Like I am slowly making a small fortress using granite. And now finished minibarn or shelter made from diorite. Of course in real barn I need to have cows inside but I will do that later. now I just have store for wheat, potatoes and carrots. Ihave to say how the new stones look like and bunnies are cute. Also seem to be able to find various fishes from the water when fishing.. but what else. I will see when have time to return in game once again.

Almost finished!

This is how shelter looks from distance. I didn't want to add doors since it isn't for sleeping.

I started to make small fortress from granite. Now looks simply funny when not finished. (and yeah.. tower looks stupid, need to fix it somehow, maybe using dark oak wood also.)

I have also started to think if I would try some server where are others playing also. I have mostely played Minecraft alone or with few people so occupied server would be nice change. If you can recommend any, I would be glad to get the hint!

New beginning in Minecraft

I believe most of the gamers knows game called Minecraft. Yeah it is block world where you live, build houses, mine minerals and gather food. Sounds simple and it is simple but still it can be addicting. But I can also understand why someone do not want to play it.. since there isn't ongoing  plot (unless you play mods what others have made for you).

New beginning in game.

I made my first weapon, from wood!

Stone tools becomes after woodens ones.

I kept break from Minecraft about six months. I have played it several years allready allways beginning it again and enjoying about it as much as earlier. At times I have tested some mods if I have found good ones, but now I decided to play vanilla Minecraft at first. Partly becaise there are new things added what I haven't seen before. So I need to try and do all kind of things around the world to learn and see them.

After stone iron is what is wise to seek for tools.

Found perfect place for a house.

Started to keep small farm growing some wheat, potatoes and pumpkins.

Views are awesome from my house.

I will be making more posting about Minecraft when I have played game once again. I am just slow to play it.. When some finds gems fastly and begin to craft all kind of fabulous houses, I focus to stay alive and build small fortress where to live. But I will do postings about new things I find from Minecraft and will post about them.

Dragon Age Origin, Part 2

I promised to write about battles in Dragon Age origins so this text will be about them. How the battles works then? I would say that perfectly. I am person who isn't very talented to fight in games so I have played my Dragon Age on easiest level. That way I do not gain constant headache from battles and I can enjoy more ongoing story. But for those who likes challenges, game offers them. At least some. I really have no idiea how tough game can be compared to other similar ones.

When you move one of your group members, others are attacking autimatically.

Wynne is watching when Ogre gets deathblow.

I am not big fan of the battles which I can't pause at all. In Dragon Age pausing is possible what will give me time to think of my strategy and that I prefer. For those who likes to create exact roles for your group member, game offers that possibility. I haven't paid that much attention to them since I rather stop game briefly, switch to another member and do simething specific with him  them. Probably not so wise and forces me to use more healing potions and spells.. but at least I haven't often tried to play through same monsters.

Broodmother wasn't the nicest enemy.. Especiallu background story behind it was creepy and sad.

At times pausing is good thing. Gives you some time to plan your attack.

Probably battles would be easier if I would have more often two fighters in my group instead of two rogues but since I like certain characters I keep them often around me. And I wanted play rogue myself since that class is fun. I also like caster class what I can try anytime I switch to play Wynne. But detecting traps and opening all the locked chests is a big bonus. That way you leave less locked teasures behind you. 

What I can summarize about battling system? It  is a good thing that you can order your companions whenever you like and command them to attack against certain enemies. Also possibility to change difficulty level is a good. Those who likes more challenge can have it when storybased players can finish battles faster.. since there is a lot of fighting in game. But what else can you expect when darkspwans roams everywhere?

Dragon Age! Part 1

I know that there is third game published in Dragon Age saga but I wanted to play through the first one before testing other versions. So still playing Dragon Age: Origins. And I have to say.. Game is addicting if only I would have more time to play it.

The Story begins from different places depending what background you will choose. You're able to play both male and female characters. Only your race and background gives you some limitations what class you can be from few optional ones. I decided to play noble human woman. I actually first started game as playing elf but often reactions were so hostile towards her so that I made new beginning as a human. And game has been far more enjoyable since then.

There is a lot of information hidden in the game.

You can't move freely in the world but map shows well enough where you're. This is from Orzammar.

You're quickly getting groupd of four to adventure with plus few extra persons so you can switch the group when resting in a camp.

Usually when I play rolegames I prefer there to have too much information rather than guessing what happens an why. In Dragon Age you will get a a lot of information. at least amount of the news is so much that I haven't even read everything but since everything is stores into your journal it is nice to return to those whenever you can. And even there is advantages playig in wide world where you can go anywhere you like, I also liked the map marked with places where to go. When the story is very long one it could become tiring to run back and forth around the world instead that you can jump to certain places when needed. Saved from bad headache I believe.

Every character has unique dialogies.

And every character has unique skills what will help you against the enemies.

What I could say about companions then? I like them. Yes,I have my favourites (you can see most of them in the small picture) but I also have characters I dislike very much. But this only tells that makers has succeeded to create characters who has own kind of personalities. When I pick my groupd of four it is enjoyable to see that companions also talks with each other. At times it is easy to see that they do not get along together well but isn't it only natural? If I don't like them all how they could like each other?

But briefly.. Excellent game and a lot of fun! In my next posting I will tell more about the fighting system and quests in Dragon Age: Origins.

Theme Hospital

Yes Theme Hospital! It was one of my favourite games from theme series when I was way younger. When newer games started to get more of my time this lovely small game was forgotten until I heard the news. EA origin offers Theme Hospital for free, at  least for now. You just need to download EA origin to your computer and you can find Theme Hospital from there. 

Doctors are the heroes!

waiting for the first patient.

And the game was excatly how I remembered it. You start with empty building and first you need rooms where you can find out what is wrong with the patient. Then there are pharmacy for medicines and even psychiatrics the cure persons who thinks that they're like Elvis. Tempo of the game is very fine since it runs smoothly but still you can react fast enough to events. When you play further you have to react faster to emergencies so that you can cure all the needed patients. 

Patients are waiting for doctors.

You need to think of the space so that you can build everything what is needed.

Of course game looks simple since it was released in 1997. But still the magic of the hospital game hasn't vanished. It is still fun to find a balance between the cured patients and the wellfare of the staff. You need to have enough money to hire enoug hstaff so that they can rest at times. Otherwise you begin to loose your great workers. 

If you like strategygames this is good snack to you. Game is rather easy to learn to control a nd it is simplier than many modern strategy game. But sometimes gaming can be fun and not that serious, right?